The preparation has taken months, and building “a small city” on the grounds of TPC Boston in Norton has lasted six weeks. But it’s finally almost time for the Deutsche Bank Championship.
The second leg of golf’s FedEx Cup “playoffs” runs Friday to Monday.
The Cup itself is pretty simple: The top 125 players in the points standings qualified for last week’s Barclays, the top 100 advanced to the DBC, and the top 70 will move on to the BMW Championship.
Actually putting on one of those tournaments??That’s a lot less simple.
“We have over 1,800 volunteers help throughout the course of the week,” championship director Eric Baldwin said. “We have well over 75 partners we work with, and sponsors we work with throughout the week. … We build a small city out here.”
“Here,” of course, is the grounds of TPC Boston, which has hosted the event since its inception in 2003. It’s a busy place this week.
“We have bleachers and viewing platforms out here,” Baldwin said. “Concession tents, merchandise tents. It takes about six weeks to actually build all the structures that need to be ready.”
The golf course itself was mostly open for play until last Friday. It’s going to play “great,” Baldwin said, thanks in part to last week’s heavy rains.
Among the players enjoying the conditions will be Tiger Woods, who made it into the top 100 at No. 65. Naturally, Baldwin had been keeping a close eye on the world No. 1’s qualifying situation.
“[Woods playing is] not only great for us and his foundation,” he said, “it’s great for fans in New England to get to see him.”
